Conversion will improve Leicester police radio communication - Gate House

December 04. 2012 6:00AM

Conversion will improve Leicester police radio communication

Selectmen last night approved the expenditure of up to $1,503 to obtain a change in license to convert the Police Departmentís radio system from UHF to VHF.

The change will make it possible for the Police, Fire and Highway department members to contact one another directly without going through a dispatcher. The change also has approval from the fire chief and the highway superintendent.

The local police will also be able to contact directly officers in the police departments of Paxton, Spencer, Oxford and Charlton, which have already switched to VHF or are in the process of doing so. They will be able to work with Auburn police through existing equipment.

Police officials said it would take about two months to obtain the license and then purchase the new radios so the department will continue to operate on UHF until sometime after the first of the year.

The money to pay for the change will come from funds appropriated for upgrading the police radio system by voters at the annual town meeting.

Selectmen also voted last night to place Daniel Brosnihan on the Community Development Block Grant Committee. Mr. Brosnihan is chief operating officer of the Leicester Housing Authority, which was a beneficiary of the recently completed block grant program, and is expected to be involved in the new program that the town is currently preparing to request.